Radioactive materials health hazards

An environmental emergency is a sudden threat to the public health or the wellbeing of the environment, arising from the release or potential release of oil, radioactive materials, or hazardous chemicals into the air, land, or water. 

Care must be taken in handling radon, as with other radioactive materials. The main hazard is from inhalation of the element and its solid daughters which are collected on dust in the air. Good ventilation should be provided where radium, thorium, or actinium is stored to prevent build-up of the element. Radon build-up is a health consideration in uranium mines. Recently radon build-up in homes has been a concern. Many deaths from lung cancer are caused by radon exposure. In the U.S. it is recommended that remedial action be taken if the air in homes exceeds 4 pCi/1. 

Airborne poisons in the nuclear weapons progam were not limited to radioactive materials released from weapons. The weapons technology involved the use of many exotic materials, some of which were toxic (e.g., beryllium). Hazardous releases of these materials occurred in industrial settings in urban areas and were studied by the Atomic Energy Commission as occupational and public health problems. 

Radioactivity results when some part of an atom is unstable. The instability exists because the orbital electrons or the nucleus contain too much energy. Radioactive atoms are called radionuclides. They release excess energy by emitting radiation. The type of radiation released (alpha, beta, or gamma particles) may be more or less hazardous to humans, depending on the location of the radioactive materials. Exposure to radioactive materials outside the body poses external hazards. Radioactive materials may also be hazardous when ingested, inhaled, or injected and thus pose internal hazards. The sections below describe the characteristics of radiation particles as external or internal hazards and as they may be encountered after a terrorist attack. Chapter 3 provides additional details and addresses health effects associated with exposure to radiation. 

The term hazardous substance refers to any raw materials, intermediate products, final products, spent wastes, accidental spills, leakages, and so on, that are hazardous to human health and the environment. Technically speaking, aU ignitable, corrosive, reactive (explosive), toxic, infectious, carcinogenic, and radioactive substances are hazardous [1-3]. 

Radioactivity associated with 187Re can be detected only by using sophisticated laboratory equipment because of the low energy of the emitted (3-particles. This radioactivity poses no health or safety hazards. Samples of the metal and its compounds are not labeled as radioactive, and typical precautions associated with radioactive materials are not taken during use and handling of the element or its compounds. 

Industrial refractories are by their veiy nature stable materials and usually do nor constitute a physiological hazard. This is not so, however, for unusual refractories that might contain heavy metals or radioactive oxides, such as thoria and urania. or to binders or additives that may be toxic. Inhalation of certain fine dusts may constitute a health hazard. Forexample, exposure to silica, asbestos, and beryllium oxide dusts over a period of time results in the potential risk of lung disease. 

Although NARM is not a radioactive material defined in AEA, DOE is responsible for management and disposal of NARM waste generated by any of its authorized activities, based on the provision of AEA that all DOE activities must be protective of public health and safety (AEA, 1954). Current DOE policy specifies that NARM waste is to be managed as mixed waste under AEA and RCRA or TSCA (1976) if the waste is hazardous under either of the latter two laws (DOE, 1999c). Thus, all issues that arise in management and disposal of DOE s mixed low-level waste (see Section 4.3.3) also apply to DOE s mixed NARM waste. 

Like all radioactive materials, actinium is a health hazard. If taken into the body, it tends to be deposited in the bones, where the energy it emits damages or destroys cells. Radiation is known to cause bone cancer and other disorders. 

Human health biomonitoring using biomarkers and chemical analyses are used in the following applications (1) Health surveillance of persons who are known to have high occupational or environmental exposures to potentially toxic chemicals. This may include those who work with chemicals, radioactive materials, or biohazards as part of their occupation. Examples include factory workers, chemical industry employees, farmers, health care professionals, nuclear plant employees, and veterans of the Gulf War I. This may also consist of those who are involuntarily exposed to such hazards in their everyday surroundings. Some examples are people living near land fills, factories, hazardous waste sites, or environmental catastrophes such as the Chernobyl... 

When a country is very sparsely populated, as was the U.S. prior to the Industrial Revolution, the extent of land, water and other natural resources seems infinite. Disposal of liquid and solid wastes in those days wasn t even thought of as pollution . In fact, most of the wastes were organic, and readily absorbed into nature without deleterious effects. With industrialization, and the related growth of urbanization, the volume of wastes grew dramatically, and included large percentages of materials that nature could not degrade and absorb. Some of these materials were health hazards, notably petroleum residues and, more recently, radioactive materials. 

Radiation exposure is one of the most well-studied hazards to human health, but it has not been possible to link any increased incidence of impaired health at the levels of exposure that are allowed for laboratory personnel. However, higher radiation exposure is harmful, which has several important implications. First, key prerequisites are that personnel involved in the handling of radioactive material are properly educated in how to avoid unnecessary exposure to people and the environment, that appropriate protective and dosimetry devices are used and that a plan is implemented for the handling and disposal of material. Second, it is usually not possible to use normal laboratory or pilot plant-scale equipment, since such batch sizes will require the handling of excessive amounts of radioactivity. Therefore, micro-scale equipment may be developed for certain processes. 

Types of Information Environmental health, air and water pollution, hazardous waste, pesticides, radioactive materials and emergency response, and other environmental topics... 

The barren sand and slimes left after the leaching processes are called tailings. They contain about 85% of the radioactivity present in the unprocessed uranium ore. The tailings, spent acid, and process water are often pumped to a tailings impoundment. The tailings fluids or leachate from the tailings piles contain concentrations of radioactive and toxic materials that might pose a public health hazard. 

Many of the chemical elements and their compounds are toxic and should be handled with due respect and care. In recent years there has been greatly increased knowledge and awareness of the health hazards associated with chemicals, radioactive materials. 

An area of obvious concern is that relating to health and safety issues, especially when records of past waste deposits are not as accurate as they could be, and where extremely hazardous materials may have been deposited. Savage and Diaz (1994) state that "based on the limited historical record and on several limited evaluations LFMR appears feasible with respect to occupational and public health and safety". Nevertheless, the risk posed to the health and safety of the woikeis and the general public will vary in a site-specific way according to the factors identified above, and measures taken to control emissions, and to monitor for other potential hazards such as toxic and radioactive materials. 

Technical Safety Requirements shall define the operating limits and surveillance requirements, the basis thereof, safety boundaries, and management or administrative controls necessary to protect the health and safety of the public and to minimize the potential risk to workers from the uncontrolled release of radioactive or other hazardous materials and from radiation exposure due to inadvertent criticality. 

The nuclear method is a non-destructive method and determines the binder content on both uncompacted asphalt and laboratory-compacted asphalt specimens. With this method, it is not possible to determine the aggregate gradation afterwards. The method uses an apparatus that utilises neutron thermalisation techniques. The nuclear method is quicker than the ignition method but it utilised radioactive material, which may be hazardous to the health of the users unless proper precautions are taken. The nuclear method for determination of the asphalt binder content is conducted according to ASTM D 4125 (2010) or AASHTO T 287 (2010). A detailed description of the test method is given in Section 9.6.6. There was no relevant European standard at the time of writing the book. 

The physical and health hazards associated with chemicals should be determined before working with them This determination may involve consulting literature references. Laboratory Chemical Safety Summaries (LCSSs), Matmal Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs), or other reference materials (see also Chapter 3, section 3.B) and may require discussions with the laboratory supervisor and consultants such as safety and industrial hygiene officers. Every step of the waste minimization and removal processes should be checked against federal, state, and local regulations. Production of mixed chemical-radioactive-biological waste (see Chapter 7, section 7.C.1.3) should not be considered without discussions with environmental health and safety experts. 

A document setting out an organized, planned, and coordinated course of action to be followed in case of a fire, explosion, or other incident that releases toxic chemicals, hazardous waste, or radioactive materials that threaten human health or the environment. See also Emergency Response Plan (ERP). 

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